To�e's 27th birthday marked with sorrow

by Laura Gudim 88 views

The whole of Macedonia marked what would have been their national musical idol To�e Proeski's 27th birthday with flowers, candles and processions yesterday, the 25th of January.

Processions started from Toše's grave in his native town of Kruševo, where the singer's parents, relatives and friends from all over the country and abroadgathered in the morning hours. Father Stefan, the patriarch of the Macedonian Orthodox Church conducted a remembrance mass, and Toše's band performed the singer's most popular songs.

On a wall video, photographs from Toše's humanitarian works in children's homes, schools and hospitals were shown. Toše's Croatian friends and colleagues Antonija Šolaand Miroslav Popović presented his parents with the award for Most Popular Musician in Croatia.

In the Ilinden museum near Kruševo, the "Todor Proeski"Foundation was presented by his parents, and a documentary about Toše's professional humanitarian work as UNICEF's Goodwill ambassador was shown. At midday in the capital Skoplje and in other Macedonian towns, taxi drivers stopped working to pay tribute to the singer who died tragically young.

Toše Proeski represented Macedonian at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest. He was killed in a car accident on a Croatian motorway on 16th October 2007.